Blogs

Today the sea ice conditions were good enough to allow all of our heavy equipment to be offloaded from the S.A. Agulhas II to the ice shelf. The ice shelf surface is about 40m above the ship’s deck, so everything has to be lifted up by crane. Our logistics team is unpacking the equipment, testing it, and getting everything ready for us to be able to travel and camp safely on the ice.

We are is still on the S.A. Agulhas II and wrapping up planning for sampling sites. Due to a change in wind pushing the sea ice against the ice shelf, unloading of our cargo from the ship has been delayed until the winds change.

Att kryssa genom havsisen mellan isberg, sälar och pingviner är inget annat är hänförande. Nu är vi tillbaka vid avlastningsplatsen. Vi tycker vädret ser fint ut för imorgon, så hopp finns för både flygning till Troll för upphämtning av bagage, vetenskaplig flygrekognosering och lossning av vår utrustning.

The team is now on a ship! The S.A. Agulhas II is the ship bringing the team’s heavy equipment to Antarctica, including snowmobiles, sleds, and living modules. The ship was delayed leaving Cape Town, and is now at the edge of the ice shelf unloading its cargo for transport to SANAE IV, the South African research station.

Troll, the Norwegian research station

The MAGIC-DML team has arrived at the Norwegian research station Troll in Antarctica.

All expedition participants are now gathered at Breakwater Lodge in Cape Town. All our luggage has arrived and everybody is in good spirit. The day was spent doing some supplementary purchases and we had dinner at Harbour House.

The food can truly make or break an expedition. And feeding our small ‘army’ of a field team is far from an easy challenge!

American Geophysical Union (AGU) has posted Sarah Sams blog on preparing for Antarctica.

The Magic-DML team have just wrapped up a very productive week in Stockholm.

The team is in Stockholm for field training and meetings. Safety first, always.

The Beryllium samples were analysed at PRIME lab, Purdue last week meaning we have our first numbers.

Researchers from Stockholm University have been invited to participate in the Polynyas, ice production, and seasonal evolution in the Ross Sea (PIPERS) expedition on board the U.S. icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer.

The stubborn storm and our involuntary extended stay at Wasa, meant that we had time for a proper closing of the station. The closing procedure is basically the reverse of the start-up procedure – there is a checklist to follow and we just do it the other way around. The challenge is to make room for everything and at the same time make it logical for those who will open the station next time.

The last few days have passed slowly, we switched to low-power mode and just waited out the storm. When the winds were at their strongest, the anemometer almost broke down and we had to take it inside. Then it sounded as if the storm got even stronger, but we don't really know the exact wind speed.

So, we are officially delayed and the mess with missed connections is on. For a while the planning pointed towards flying out yesterday, but that got cancelled.

After a season with splendid weather, we are having our share. Yesterday's weather reports indicate that the weekend is our best bet to leave Wasa.

Nathalie Van der Putten from the Department of Geology, Lund University, will participate in Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) which is the first research expedition of the Swiss Polar Institute. The expedition is divided into three legs and the route goes around the entire Antarctic continent.

Now we are scheduled to get picked up on Thursday at 12:15 but the forecast does not look that good. At this moment we have 43,2 knots of wind and visibility less than 1000 meters. But spirits are high, we are warm and we got food.

Efter en extremt hektisk eftermiddag och sen kväll igår fick vi en tidig start i morse. Vårt flyg till Troll var ursprungligen planerat till onsdag 22 februari, men igår fick vi ett mail med en uppdatering av tidtabellen. Enligt väderprognosen så ska det bli storm tisdag-torsdag och eventuellt fredag. I det nya uppdaterade schemat hade vårt flyg flyttats till idag (måndag 20 februari).